News round-up April 2019

Two hold onto Olympia deal; ’Cupcycling’ firm in line for prize; Walker to leave Cory; Ship to take plastic recycling message round world

Two hold onto Olympia deal

Haslehurst Waste Management & Recycling and Powerday have won a further three-year contract for recycling at the Olympia exhibition centre in west London.

The two companies have delivered recycling and waste management services to Olympia London since 2011. Haslehurst provides collection and haulage services, transporting the waste to Powerday’s recycling facility in Willesden. Olympia London recycles 98% of waste with the rest processed into refuse-derived fuel.

Press release

’Cupcycling’ firm in line for prize

james cropper cupcycling

James Cropper has become a finalist for Business in the Community’s responsible business awards, for it’s CupCycling innovation, which it has said is the world’s first method of upcycling used coffee cups.

Managing director Steve Adams said: “With 60m coffee cups upcycled into beautiful paper and packaging to date, and the capacity to do the same with 500m cups annually, we’re focussed on scaling our ability to create value from waste.”

Press release

Walker to leave Cory

2000 cory riverside

Cory Riverside Energy has announced that its chief operating officer Julian Walker is to leave to join Associated British Ports as their chief commercial officer at the end of July.

Dougie Sutherland, Cory’s new chief executive, said: “I have been really impressed by the calibre of the management team at Cory and, while I’m sorry to see Julian move on it is a great opportunity for him.”

Press release

Ship to take plastic recycling message round world

clarins partner plastic odyssey

The Clarins cosmetic group is to partner an expedition fighting plastic pollution in the ocean.

In 2020, the Plastic Odyssey ship will start circumnavigating the globe for three years to promote plastic recycling and reduction. It will be powered by plastic waste using pyrolysis to convert this to fuel. It will sail the coast of Africa, South America, and south-east Asia, building small modular recycling plants at each stop.

Company president Christian Courtin-Clarins is pictured with project members.

Picture: Aude Catimel Photography

Press release

Charity names partner for medical device reuse

wheelchair

Disabled children’s charity Newlife has appointed Murrays Medical to take over its specialist equipment recycling service, Newlifeable.The charity will receive 10% of every sale of the refurbished equipment.

It launched the service in 2014 after learning that large quantities of useable disability equipment were being sent to landfill or discarded. Newlife chief executive Sheila Brown said: “Having proved the service works, we’re delighted to announce that Murrays will take over the full service supplementing its current offerings.”

Press release

Detergent firm to slash plastics use

ariel packet

P&G Fabric Care brands have committed to a 30% plastics packaging reduction across Europe by 2025.

It said this would be theequivalent of a line of detergent bottles around the earth. It is also aiming for full recyclability by 2022 of all packaging.

The company said this would reduce plastic use by 15,000 tons a year by 2025.

Press release

Children successfully ‘Recycle wth Michael’

all saints ce junior academy hastings salvation army

More than 64,000 school pupils have taken part in the Salvation Army Trading’s Recycle with Michael initiative since it began in January. It aims to divert thousands of tonnes of unwanted textiles away from landfill and so far, 68.88 tonnes of unwanted clothes and shoes have been donated.

Schools can generate funds as half the value of donated goods is returned to the school concerned, with the rets supporting the Salvation Army’s work with vulnerable people. Pictured are pupils from All Saints Church of England Junior Academy, Hastings.

Press release

Confidential waste operation passes milestone

vertas environmental citrus award

Vertas Environmental has received an award from Citrus Security Shredding, as the volume of confidential paper they have recycled passed 50,000 kilos.

Citrus and Vertas Environmental have worked together since 2016 to offer schools and small businesses a way to recycle small quantities of confidential waste.

Press release

Enva acquires waste oils firm

London-based ARO collects waste lubricant oils and hazardous wastes, offering services to the market throughout London and south east England. The business collects approximately 10million litres of used lubricants per annum, as well as a range of hazardous garage wastes.

The ARO business will be rebranded as Enva and fully integrated into Enva’s existing waste oil collection and processing business. Enva director Michael Sneath said: “ARO’s service offering is a perfect fit with our existing oil business in the UK. ARO bring their 45 years of experience and knowledge to Enva, and strengthen our collection network in the south east of England.

Press release

New Cory Riverside Energy chief announced

Former managing director of Interserve’s development division, Dougie Sutherland, has been announced as the new chief executive of Cory Riverside Energy. He will succeed Nicholas Pollard, who is stepping down.

Sutherland will take up his new position on 23 April. He has developed major infrastructure projects and is experienced in the contracting and commissioning of energy-from-waste plants.

John Barry, Cory chair, said: “I am confident that Dougie’s experience and drive to deliver impactful results, alongside his public service credentials, make him the perfect fit for Cory.”

Press release

PVC phthalate DEHP challenge fails

586 granulated pvc

Environmental law campaign group ClientEarth has lost its challenge against the European Commission’s decision to authorise the use of the phthalate DEHP in recycled PVC.

ClientEarth did not directly challenge the authorisation directly, but said an annulment of the Commission’s decision not to conduct an internal review would lead to the policy being overturned. The European Court of Justice turned down the challenge in judgment issued on 4 April.

The ruling is likely to be seen as a setback for eliminating SVHC use in recycled waste in a circular economy.

In 2016, the Commission granted VinyLoop Ferrera, Stena Recycling and Plastic Planet permission to use the chemical in the formulation of recycled PVC containing DEHP in compounds and dry-blends. It also allowed industrial use of recycled soft PVC containing DEHP in polymer processing by calendaring, extrusion, compression and injection moulding to produce PVC articles. This included various exceptions.

Inciner8 backs knife crime charity

Merseyside-based waste management firm Inciner8 is continuing its work with national knife crime fighting charity, Steel Warriors, by taking knives off UK streets and recycling them into public gyms.

Inciner8 recently received its second haul of confiscated knives, weighing in at six tonnes, which it will support in melting down into steel that can be easily moulded to create callisthenics outdoor gyms. The first Steel Warriors gym in Tower Hamlet, which was constructed from two tonnes of seized knives.

Inciner8’s recycling process melts the handles off the weapons, which can then be reworked into bars, platforms and other functional gym equipment. Duncan Sandford, commercial manager at Inciner8, said: “Knife crime has to stop, and this initiative is one amazing way of re-using these deadly weapons and turning them into something positive, something useful, and something that really serves the community.”

Press release

Viridor launches virtual EfW tour

beddington erf screengrab

People can now explore the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility on their smartphone through the Viridor Virtual Visitor Centre.

The Beddington energy-from-waste plant has been receiving waste from the South London Waste Partnership and from licensed third parties for a number of months, generating enough electricity to power the facility itself plus around 55,000 homes.

The Virtual Visitor Centre is a web-based, public access, learning platform for households in the London boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton to learn more about what happens to their non-recyclable waste after it is collected.

Press release

Plastics-to-hydrogen firm secures Cheshire site

plastic waste

PowerHouse Energy Group (PHE), a company pioneering hydrogen and clean energy production from waste plastic, has announced its development partner, Waste2Tricity, has concluded negotiations and signed an agreement with Peel Environmental for an 124 year lease of a plot on a 54-acre site in Cheshire.

PHE said the £700m Protos energy hub site was an important milestone in its plan to build a waste plastic to hydrogen and power facility. It is expected to the be the first full scale commercial site for PHE’s proprietary hydrogen from waste DMG technology.

PHE chief executive David Ryan said: “This is a significant strategic development for PowerHouse Energy as our development and operational partners Waste2Tricity and Peel both share the vision for hydrogen in the North West.”

Press release

Plastics-to-oil firm to build facilities in Indonesia

plastic energy west java mou

Plastic Energy has reached an agreement with the province of West Java (Indonesia) to build five chemical recycling plants.

The memorandum of understanding signed by the governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, follows campaigns – including the United Nations (UN) Clean Seas, the Global Plastic Action Partnership, Our Ocean Conference – to reduce plastic pollution and, in particular, plastics reaching the ocean around Indonesia, a country which is second only to China for leaking plastic into the sea.

Press release

Welsh minister talks deposit return schemes with pupils

Wales flag

Welsh Government deputy minister for housing and local government, Hannah Blythyn, visited Darren Park Primary School in Ferndale to highlight the consultation on a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers.

The school is one of many eco-schools in Wales and its eco-committee has been working to reduce its plastic use and the school regularly joins in litter picks in the local area.

If a DRS is to be introduced in Wales, shoppers would be expected to pay a deposit on plastic, glass and metal drinks containers (excluding milk containers) and would have to manually return empty containers to collection points in order to claim back their deposit, rather than use household waste collections provided by their councils.

Press release

Ribena congratulated on bottle redesign

lucozade ribena bottles

Soft drinks manufacturer Lucozade Ribena Suntory has redesigned its Ribena bottles to ensure its packaging is fully recyclable. It has committed to all its plastic packaging being reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

It said it would reduce the full printed sleeves that cover some of bottles as increasing their transparency would make it easier for automated sorting machines in recycling centres to identify the packaging.

Recycling Association chief executive Simon Ellin said: “A few years ago, we criticised Lucozade bottles for being one of the most difficult items to recycle. I am very pleased to see Lucozade Ribena Suntory making efforts to ensure its bottles are more recyclable.

Press release

Underwater survey finds wet wipe ‘mound’

wet wipe thames 21

A record 23,000 wet wipes were counted and removed from the Thames foreshore at Barnes in just two hours at the end of March.

Some 160 volunteers from environmental group Thames21 removed 473 bin bags of wet wipes, which often contain plastic fibres and do not break down.

Barnes was chosen after bathymetric surveys revealed a wet wipe mound 50 metres wide, 17 metres long and more than one metre high. The Barnes foreshore contains nine large mounds, which look natural, but are formed from a thick plastic wet wipe mesh mixed with mud, Thames21 said.

Press release

Coffee cup collection comes to Camden

coffee cup recycling launch camden

LondonEnergy has extended its ‘MochaDifference’ campaign at Camden council’s headquarters to reduce the number of disposable coffee cups used.

It will provide a free, weekly collection of single-use coffee cups after staff separated them from other materials at recycling points. LondonEnergy has also given 200 reusable cups to council staff.

Press release

Cartridge firms merge

Printer cartridges

Empty toner and ink cartridge collection firms Ink & Toner and ITP have merged. Terri Anne Smedley, Managing Director of Ink & Toner commented: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been able to do this deal. ITP’s excellent reputation combined with our experience and talented team will provide a superb platform to take the business to a completely different level.”

Press release

Sponsor for ‘closed loop’ sailor

tom dolan boat

Smurfit Kappa has joined forces with offshore racing sailor Tom Dolan to raise awareness of its Better Planet Packaging initiative.

Dolan and his crew operate a closed loop system on board to reuse, recover and recycle as much as possible, and have banned the use of single-use plastics. He is competing in the Sardinha Cup event, part of the 2019 French championship for offshore sailing.

Press release

Food waste tackled in eastern Scotland

food waste

Zero Waste Scotland is to provide food waste reduction support across Dundee, Angus and Fife to help meet the Scottish Government’s goal of reducing food waste by 33% by 2025.A regional food waste officer will work with small businesses, educational establishments and community groups.

Press release

Mobile phone recycling kiosks planned

mobile phones

American firm Gazelle plans to bring its mobile phone recycling kiosks to the UK. The company says it has diverted 19m phones from landfill in the USA.

Its kiosks automatically assess the value of discarded phones and give customers an immediate payment, Gazelle then offers them for resale.

Press release

Fly-tippers to be caught on camera

fly tip

Pictures of offenders caught on camera fly-tipping are being displayed publicly by the London Borough of Ealing to help identify offenders.

It has used CCTV footage to find and prosecute Tarique Hamid, who runs the Nehanas Kitchen restaurant in Southall, and who pleaded guilty at Ealing Magistrates’ Court to six offences of fly-tipping in a nearby street. The business was ordered to pay a £3,000 fine, £1,070 in costs, and a £50 victim surcharge.

The council said it had paid £150 per day, over the six days, to clear the fly-tip concerned.

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